abraham's stars

by Katie Greenwood and Eric Thomsen

The following activity was taken from Explorer's Guide 2, a devotional magazine for elementary-aged children from Randall House Publications. To find out more, visit the Randall House website at www.randallhouse.com.

Origami is the ancient art of folding paper into different kinds of shapes. Are you up to the challenge? Using the instructions below, make your own origami star to represent one of Abraham’s family!

Fold a square piece of paper in half diagonally so you have a triangle; then unfold the paper (1).

Fold the paper in half diagonally the other way; then unfold the paper (2).

Fold the paper in half so you have a rectangle; then unfold the paper (3).

Fold the paper in half the other way; then unfold the paper (4). Wow! That’s a lot of creases.

NOW FOR THE FUN PART
Fold the left side of the triangle so the edge falls on the first crease (facing you). Then, fold the right side of the triangle so the edge falls on the first crease on the back side of the triangle (5, 6).

Take the center part of your triangle (c) and push it out so it looks like
a cone (6).

Grab point A and point B and switch their spots. Point A should pass over point B to arrive at their final destination (7, 8). Warning! This is difficult and may take several tries. Fold the left side down; there’s a crease there, so it should be
easy (9).

Make a new crease and create the side point of the star (10, 11).

Now do the right side. Fold the right side down to match the point of the star you just created (12).

Usually, glue and tape aren’t used in origami . . . but you might want to put a few dots of glue here and there (or tape) if you want to display your star (13).

Congratulations! You have just completed your first origami challenge! Does your star look like the one below?

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ABRAHAM AND THE STARS OF HIS FAMILY!

DID YOU KNOW that God told Abraham that he would have more people in his family than stars in the sky? It’s true, and you can read the whole story in Genesis 15:1-6.

DID YOU KNOW that you have a better chance of seeing a shooting star in October and November than any other months of the year?

It’s true! Scientists tell us that a steady stream of shooting stars (meteors) occurs every year between October 31 and November 17. This display of shooting stars is called the Leonid Meteor Shower. You can find out more about shooting stars, meteors, and the best time to watch them by visiting the NASA website at http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/meteor.html.